Eden of the East

2009's Eden of the East has several references to popular and obscure movies. I'm no cinephile so I probably fail to notice most. The DVDs should definitely have some really interesting director's comment track. Mentioned directly or indirectly by the characters til now: Kate and Leopold (2001) on episode 2 and Quadrophenia (1979) on episode 4. There is a scene in episode 6 where the character Haruo Kasuga talks to his friends while inside a roll-top desk which I suppose is a reference to His Girl Friday (1940). Below are the posters that appear on screen. First one is an altered version of Le Grand Bleu (1988).


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Below are four posters seen on episode 6. I can't identify the ones in the left, but the two to the right are Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and Full Metal Jacket (1987).

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On episode 7, the hall with the posters is shown from another angle. It shows the Full Metal Jacket once again and another poster I'm not able to recognize.

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Lots of images of altered posters from episode 11. Rear Window on the left and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid once again to the right. No idea of the middle one.

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I'm unable to identify any of the posters below.


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This is a reference to Truffaut's Les Quatre Cents Coups.

Izumo Fire Department

Recently I learned that one of the guys who posts at the forum I frequently drop by is married to a firefighter. How cool is that? While searching for a Japanese animations that feature firefighters to give as present to his wife, he was surprised to only find one: Megumi no Daigo.

This reminded me that back in 2004, the city of Izumo invited foreigners for a volunteer training in case of a natural disaster such as an earthquake, tsunami, or typhoon. Really fun day. Learned a lot thanks to the super nice firemen from Izumo.


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Below is a demonstration of their special camera to search for victims below debris or any other hard-to-reach location.

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I was impressed by these two buildings they use to train.


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Never forgetting the basics, all volunteers had a chance to experience how to handle a chemical fire extinguisher. First time I actually used one.